Stencil casting process and resulting architectural art product

ABSTRACT

Architectural art is stencil cast using modeling paste directly onto a door, wall section, vinyl sheet or similar material which acts both as a base for the mold and as the substrate for permanent retention of the cast-in-place art work.

[ 1 Dec. 9, 1975 United States Patent [191 Maxwell Weierichm,..........u........t.. 117/38 X Dellenbaugh,..,,,..,...H.,.,..... 161/117 161/5 161/18 Venturino..,.,.....,,..,....,...,...

Yocum [75] Paul E. Maxwell, Carrollton, Tex

Assignee: Multiple Originals, Inc., Dallas, Tex.

Filed: Feb. 19, 1974 Appl. No; 443,313

Primary ExaminerThomas .1, Herbert, Jr. Assistant ExamincrBruce H. Hess ABSTRACT [52] US. 428/195; 118/504; 427/282; 428/172 B3213 3/16 [51] Int. Architectural art is stencil cast using modeling paste directly onto a door, wall section, vinyl sheet or similar material which acts both as a base for the mold and [58] Field of Search 118/504, 505; 161/138, 161/146, 413; 117/38; 427/282; 428/172, 195

as the substrate for permanent retention of the cast-inplace art work [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS i 1,773,117 8/1930 Rahr 117/38 9 Ga 8 Draw'ng figures U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 1975 Sheet 3 of 3 3,925,586

a as 4 8X T D WMTF K 1] II In [VII/IA.

Bor l0 STENCIL CASTING PROCESS AND RESULTING ARCHITECTURAL ART PRODUCT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

I. Field of Invention:

This invention relates to the field of bas-relief art, and to methods and processes for preparing and using such art.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Bas-relief art has been previously prepared by carving directly into a surface or by pouring into a suitable mold.

The carving or sculpturing technique goes back to ancient times, and its exact origin would be difficult to trace, but it has been used with both hard and soft surface materials and is well known in the decorative arts.

Molding a has-relief is a more recent technique, which can be examined with reference to prior art US. Pat. Nos. 3,322,609 to Vida; 3,444,032 to Kreier; 3,663,349 to Venturino; 3,269,886 to Dellanbaugh, and 3,7l2,825 to Yocum.

In the above patent to Vida, a separate mold unit is required into which a building facing material of a mixture of thermosetting resin, silica sand, crystalline alumina, or other translucent grains is deposited. His finished product is flexible at the grout lines only, and all of his rigid members are substantially the same height. The process steps employed by Vida number at least fourteen (compared to Applicants eight) and are intricate and expensive to accomplish his result, whereas Applicants process, by comparison is extremely simple, economical, and expedient to accomplish the Applicants result.

The patent to Kreier discloses a method and resulting article using a slurry of metal powder and binder deposited in a flexible mold and then flame curing the slurry to provide a porous metallic pattern on a rigid multilayer panel. In contradistinction, in one embodiment, the Applicants non-metallic product is formed on a very flexible substrate for the purpose of shaping the substrate to an architectural column or similar support.

The patent to Venturino discloses a wall panel having a central layer of fabric with veneer wood or imitation leather glued to one side, and provided on the other side with plastic secured thereto by hot-pressing to impart a geometric embossed form to the panel. Applicants architectural art section, in contrast, requires no expensive hot-press machines or dies, and uses economical stencils that may be quickly and manually changed to incorporate appropriate new designs, if desired.

The patent to Dellenbaugh discloses a masonry item and a method primarily intended to produce a small decorated tile by casting wet cementious material into a mold lined with a then smooth surfaced water swellable film. The wet material transfers water to the film which expands upwardly into the cementious material in the form of random wrinkles. When the cementious material has set and is removed from the mold, it will show on its face the identical design of the wrinkles. While this is an ingenious approach to creating a novel random design on relatively small sections of tile, it differs markedly from the Applicants process and resulting product of extremely large flexible material and deliberate designs of architectural art that may be reproduced indefinitely.

The patent to Yocum discloses a simulated masonary wall panel that is formed by first coating the panel with a base coat to resemble mortar and then spraying a finish coat through a mask to protect the simulated mortar joints. When the mask is removed, the finish coat resembles brick or other masonary stone. The applicant's process specifically avoids using a rigid or brittle (when set) medium, and deliberately avoids simulating masonary stone so that an attractive, artistic presentation of architectural art is obtained.

While the prior art disclosures serve useful functions in their respective fields, none of them accomplish the Applicants purpose in the manner or with the structure of the present invention as it directly relates to architectural art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

A principal object of this invention is to provide a simple, straight forward and economical process for producing large segments of architectural art.

Another object is to provide such a process that is repeatable for an indefinite number of times so that consistent architectural art is produced.

A further object is to provide a process for making a resulting decorative product which is not designed to hang on a wall, but is the wall itself.

And, another object is to provide an architectural art product that comprises a large section of flexible material which is adapted to adher to curved construction sections, such as a column, and provide post-construction bas-relief patterns in the columns.

An additional object is to provide a method of producing an entire wall section containing its own inherent decorative design from a single mold that may be used over and over again without damage to the mold or loss of quality in the resultant product.

And yet another object is to provide a reproducible process that will provide architectural art designs of raised islands of rustic contour and varying heights selectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the process of this invention showing the steps and sequence in general outline.

FIG. 2 is an example of architectural art produced by the process of this invention and resulting in a decorative door unit.

FIG. 3 is another example of architectural art resulting in a flexible section for direct application to building structures.

FIG. 4 depicts the door unit of FIG. 2 being subjected to this process.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan and elevational views of the stencil used to produce the product of FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional views showing the partially finished and finished architectural art product respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:

This invention is particularly adapted to be fabricated of initially pliable material such as modeling paste, and one specific acrylic-polymer modeling paste that is satisfactory for this purpose is identified as No. 7475 and is made by Hunt Manufacturing Co. of Statesville, North Carolina. To avoid confusion in the following specification, this material will be referred to as the medium and the substrate it is deposited on will be referred to as the material'.

Referring now to FIG. I, the basic process is seen to comprise, initially obtaining the material to be transformed from its existing state, be it a plain section of building-size wall board, for example 4 by 8 feet or at least many square feet in area, an undecorated door, or a bare sheet of flexible vinyl material or materials similar to the foregoing.

The first step in this overall novel combination process is to treat the surface of the material chosen with another ingredient to insure adhesion of the medium to the door or wall board (it is not necessary to treat vinyl materials). One suitable chemical ingredient for this purpose is known under the product name of gesso. The surface treatment is accomplished by brushing on or otherwise applying a thin coating of the treating ingredient and allowing same to substantially dry on the surface of the material.

Step No. 2 in this process is to place the door, wall board or vinyl in a horizontal position on a flat surface so that the top surface of the work piece is horizontal and becomes the substrate as well as acting as the mold bottom when the stencil casting takes place. (See FIG. 4).

The next step 3 shown in FIG. 1 may actually have occurred first, or it may not be necessary if a previous design is being repeated and its stencil is available. But initially this is a necessary step in the described process, so here the operator will start with a solid, relatively thick sheet (one-fourth inch and larger) of plexi-glass or equivalent material and will rout out the negative" pattern of the desired design directly into and through the plexi-glass (see FIG. to provide a stencil for the next process step. Plexi-glass has been found superior to other stencil materials, such as masonite, since it does not warp, is not moisture absorbent, and does not adhere to the medium.

In step No. 4, the operator places the routed out stencil onto the over the material (wall, door, vinyl or the like) which is now the substrate and during the casting process will act as the mold bottom. Next, the operator fills all the voids in the stencil with the medium (modeling paste or the like), and using a squeegee over the surface of the stencil, forces the medium down to the full depth of each stencil opening. At this step, the modeling paste may be mixed with color pigment, either totally or selectively, to produce different raised islands of different colors.

The next step, No. 5, requires the operator delay ten minutes and then remove the stencil as nearly vertical as possible. The stencil is then taken to a spray booth where water under pressure impinges on the surface of the stencil to completely remove any modeling paste remaining on the stencil.

Next, (step 6) the now completed design of the substrate with its raised islands of moist modeling paste is allowed to set for 24 hours to permit shrinkage and hardening of the islands.

Step No. 7 is not usually followed if color pigments were added in step 4. Where uncolored modeling paste was used, the selective painting is done at this point or after installation to permit this new architectural art design to blend into and harmonize with the surrounding architecture.

Step No. 8 comprises installing the door, wall board or vinyl into the architectural structure to thus add creative beauty to the physical necessity. If the intended recipient location in the construction is curved or otherwise not flat, and the decorative substrate is 4 vinyl, it may be glued to the construction member and will thus become a permanent and aesthetic part of the architectonic whole.

Referring now to the other figures of the drawing, it will be observed that FIG. 2 is a plan view of the door 3 of FIG. 4 after it has been processed into a work of architectural art. This door 3 includes a knob 4 for opening and hinges 5 for hanging and a wood or other material body 6 from which the design 7 is raised. The design 7 comprises a series of raised islands 8 created by the foregoing process which at this point are an integral part of the door 3 in the same manner as if the whole door had been cast in place. This described basrelief art could similarly be incorporated in a wall section using the same or varying design. in a commonalty of construction, the art design in doors and wall sections would be compatible from an artistic sense using colors that blend and avoiding configurations that clash.

FIG. 3 represents an integrated section of flexible vinyl material 10 and an artistic design 11 which was likewise prepared by the described process. The advantage of incorporating an artistic design into flexible vinyl is that the now decorative material may be applied to previously plain and non-appealing construction members as a circular column and thus render it appealing and aesthetic, whereas installing has-relief art by carving would be prohibitive from an economic viewpoint.

In FIG. 4, the door 3 of FIG. 2 is shown in a horizontal position on work table 15 where it is residing following the application of the process steps of FIG. 1. This is the position at which it may remain for 24 hours to permit the islands 8 of design 7 to set.

FIG. 5 is a modified fragmentary plan view of the stencil 20 used to create one specific design, identified at 21 in FIG. 8. The stencil 20 is made from a plexiglass plate 21 approximately one-fourth inch thick in which a plurality of openings or voids 22 have been routed and upon which elevated platforms I9 (integrally or as separate pieces) have been installed for purposes to be shown.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the stencil of FIG. 5 taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5. This cross-section illustrates that when stencil 20 is laid on the substrate material, such as door surface 6A, an open top mold is created having voids 22 that may be filled by the medium being cast to produce the decorative islands 23 of FIG. 7 when the stencil is removed. These islands have a unique configuration including a pointed lip 24, a slightly beveled sidewall 25, and a depressed top platform 26 shortly after the stencil casting process is completed. Also a part of this invention, though not shown in FIGS. 6 & 7, is the technique, and resulting product, of using a blind stencil void 22A that opens to the bottom side of stencil 20. This blind hole void will conform in shape to raised design already on the substrate so that the stencil may lay flat on the substrate and not interfere with art work accomplished prior to the main modelling paste casting operation.

FIG. 8 shows the resultant finished product of FIG. 7 after the modeling paste has set for a period of approximately 24 hours. The configuration of the islands by this time has changed into its permanent shape. These islands, identified at 23A are at different heights, size and shape as determined by the stencil mold of FIGS. 5 and 6 and their configurations are different from those shown in FIG. 7 which occur immediately after the mold 20 is lifted off of its substrate 3 or 10. At the time represented by FIG. 8 the pointed lip 24 of FIG. 7 has drooped inward, the top platform 26 has contracted and shrunk to the levels shown at 26A, and sidewalls 25 have inclined inward to their contracted levels of 25A that have a greater inward slope than previously.

In the foregoing specification reference was made to the condition whereat the modeling paste had set (Step No. 6, for example). In actual practice, while modeling paste sets and shrinks to its permanent shape after a pre-determined period, it does not harden or become brittle as cement does, but maintains a degree of flexibility, as does rubber. This feature is advantageous when the cast design is incorporated in a flexible vinyl substrate, since the islands are not damaged when the vinyl is curved, as for example around an architectural column.

From the foregoing description and examples, it will be seen that there has been provided a method and a device that substantially fulfills the objects of this invention as set forth herein. The invention is not limited to the exemplary construction herein shown and described, but may be made in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An architectural art product, comprising:

a. a building size structure section forming a substrate material for attachment to a structural member,

b. a has-relief build-up of a non-metallic, nonhardening medium onto said material to be incorporated thereinto for permanent integration into said material for installation into the architectural construction with which it is used, and wherein,

c. said medium represents a non-brittle attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional architectural appearances, and wherein,

d. said substrate material has a high degree of flexibility.

2. An architectural art product, comprising:

a. a building size structural section forming a substrate material for attachment to a structural member,

b. a has-relief build-up of a non-metallic, non-hardening medium onto said material to be incorporated thereinto for permanent intergration into said material for installation into the architectural construction with which it is used, and wherein c. said medium presents a non-brittle attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional architectural appearances, and wherein d. said substrate material is a flexible vinyl section.

3. An architectural art product as in claim 2, wherein said medium is modeling paste.

4. An architectural art product, comprising:

a. a building size section forming a substrate of flexible vinyl material for attachment to an architectural member including columns,

b. a has-relief build-up of a non-hardening modeling paste incorporated onto said material in a manner that presents an attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional building materials, as, and wherein c. said substrate is self-conforming and assumes the shape of the underlying architectural member to which it is attached.

5. A method of making an architectural art product for installation into an architectural structure, comprising the steps of:

a. placing a substrate of architectural material having a high degree of flexibility in a generally flat, horizontal position,

b. overlaying said substrate with a stencil containing the desired design in the form of artistically contoured openings therein, forming an attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional building materials,

c. filling said openings from the top with a non-metallic, non-hardening medium to substantially the full depth of the stencil,

d. removing said stencil by lifting normal to said substrate,

e. allowing cast in place design to set for a substantial length of time to permit shrinkage of said medium before installation.

6. A method as in claim 5, wherein said stencil comprises plexiglass material.

7. A method as in claim 5, wherein the thickness of said stencil is in the range of about one-fourth inch to about three and one-half inches, and is determinative of the height of the finished design.

8. A method for making multiple originals of an architectural art product as in claim 5, wherein said stencil is pressure sprayed to remove excess medium within about ten minutes after being removed from said substrate.

9. A method for making an architectural art product for installation into an architectural structure, comprising the steps of:

a. placing a substrate of flexible vinyl material in a flat generally horizontal position,

b. overlaying said substrate with a thick stencil containing the desired design in the form of openings therein,

c. filling said openings with non-hardening modeling paste to substantially the full depth of the stencil,

d. retaining said stencil in place on said substrate for a sufficient time for said modeling paste to partially set,

e. removing said stencil and allowing the cast in place design to set for a substantial length of time to permit shrinkage of said modeling paste before installation. 

1. AN ARCHITECTURAL ART PRODUCT, COMPRISING: A. A BUILDING SIZE STRUCTURE SECTION FORMING A SUBSTRATE MATERIAL FOR ATTACHMENT TO A STRUCTURAL MEMBER, B. A BAS-RELIEF BUILD-UP OF A NON-METALLIC, NON-HARDENING MEDIUM ONTO SAID MATERIAL TO BE INCORPORATED THEREINTO FOR PERMANENT INTEGRATION INTO SAID MATERIAL FOR INSTALLATION INTO THE ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION WITH WHICH IT IS USED, AND WHEREIN, C. SAID MEDIUM REPRESENTS A NON-BRITTLE ATTRACTIVE PATTERN THAT IS DISTINCTIVE FROM CONVENTIONAL ARCHITECTURAL APPEARANCES, AND WHEREIN, D. SAID SUBSTRATE MATERIAL HAS A HIGH DEGREE OF FLEXIBILITY.
 2. An architectural art product, comprising: a. a building size structural section forming a substrate material for attachment to a structural member, b. a bas-relief build-up of a non-metallic, non-hardening medium onto said material to be incorporated thereinto for permanent intergration into said material for installation into the architectural construction with which it is used, and wherein c. said medium presents a non-brittle attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional architectural appearances, and wherein d. said substrate material is a flexible vinyl section.
 3. An architectural art product as in claim 2, wherein said medium is modeling paste.
 4. An architectural art product, comprising: a. a building size section forming a substrate of flexible vinyl material for attachment to an architectural member including columns, b. a bas-relief build-up of a non-hardening modeling paste incorporated onto said material in a manner that presents an attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional building materials, as, and wherein c. said substrate is self-conforming and assumes the shape of the underlying architectural member to which it is attached.
 5. A method of making an architectural art product for installation into an architectural structure, comprising the steps of: a. placing a substrate of architectural material having a high degree of flexibility in a generally flat, horizontal position, b. overlaying said substrate with a stencil containing the desired design in the form of artistically contoured openings therein, forming an attractive pattern that is distinctive from conventional building materials, c. filling said openings from the top with a non-metallic, non-hardening medium to substantially the full depth of the stencil, d. removing said stencil by lifting normal to said substrate, e. allowing cast in place design to set for a substantial length of time to permit shrinkage of said medium before installation.
 6. A method as in claim 5, wherein said stencil comprises plexiglass material.
 7. A method as in claim 5, wherein the thickness of said stencil is in the range of about one-fourth inch to about three and one-half inches, and is determinative of the height of the finished design.
 8. A method for making multiple originals of an architectural art product as in claim 5, wherein said stencil is pressure sprayed to remove excess medium within about ten minutes after being removed from said substrate.
 9. A method for making an architectural art product for installation into an architectural structure, comprising the steps of: a. placing a substrate of flexible vinyl material in a flat generally horizontal position, b. overlaying said substrate with a thick stencil containing the desired design in the form of openings therein, c. filling said openings with non-hardening modeling paste to substantially the full depth of the stencil, d. retaining said stencil in place on said substrate for a sufficient time for said modeling paste to partially set, e. removing said stencil and allowing the cast in place design to set for a substantial length of time to permit shrinkage of said modeling paste before installation. 